Sydney Reviews

Photos – Keith Saunders

In a word: superb. Australia’s Pinchgut Opera and Orchestra of the Antipodes are sublime in this finely interpreted and exquisitely realised production of Vivaldi’s Bajazet (1735). Composed and arranged by Vivaldi for Verona’s 1735 Carnival season Bajazet is an operatic pasticcio (a musical pastry) of original and recycled arias connected by the more narrative recitative. Director Thomas De Mallet Burgess and Conductor Erin Helyard finely balance the requirements of an original – newly discovered – score with the dramatic needs of a contemporary production. The results are superb.

Bajazet is an opera about the collisions of history – the encounter:  East and West, conqueror and conquered, man and woman, lover and beloved, all are thrown into conflict.

In Bajazet the Turko-Mongol emperor Tamerlane (Tamerlano) has taken his proud and defeated Ottoman rival Beyazid I (Bajazet) captive in his palace. But the consequences of defeat or meanings of victory are far from clear. A courtly melodrama rich with intrigue and betrayal soon ensues culminating in a venomous denouement. Director Thomas De Mallet Burgess points out that the questions raised in Bajazet could “equally apply to our own responses to globalisation”. We might hope with a little less poison.

Corresponding to this clash of civilisations narrative Vivaldi embeds an allegory of dueling artistic fashions as well. The Neapolitan and Venetian opera styles are each embodied in the characters themselves and aesthetically juxtaposed throughout. In Bajazet Vivaldi is playing with both sorts of matches, to say nothing of fire. The dynamically contested and negotiated culture of the early enlightenment, tyrannized by change from without and within, is strikingly current.

The performances are outstanding. As Conductor Erin Helyard elicits a sound both exacting and mercurial, rich with changes in dynamics and tone. And the vaulted ceiling of Sydney’s City Recital Hall feels altogether sepulchral above the skeletons arranged in mock audience around his orchestra. Designer Alicia Clements vandalized gothic stage is saturated with bloody splashes of poppy-red and lily-white. Her dichromatic ruins are haunted by symbols of vanitas long before  Hadleigh Adams (Bajazet), Emily Edmonds (Asteria), Christopher Lowrey (Tamerlano) or Russell Harcourt (Andronico) begin to sing.

Each gives a unique and exceptional performance (the sophistication of which frankly disqualifies me from criticising). Adams radiates mournful consequence as Bajazet. Lowrey is full of horny petulance and braggadocio as Tamerlano, while Edmonds is sublime as Asteria. Helen Sherman (Irene) is erotic and powerful as a spurned bride (her performance of "Sposa son disprezzata" is ravishing) and Sara Macliver (Idaspe) is a bright star throughout.

What a great opera!


Pinchgut Opera presents
Bajazet

Director Thomas de Mallet Burgess

Venue: Sydney Recital Hall
Dates: 4,5,7 and 8 July 2015
Bookings: www.cityrecitalhall.com | 02 8256 2222